The passive transfer of antibodies from dams to offspring via colostrum is believed to play
an important role in protecting neonatal mammals from infectious disease. The study presented
here investigates the uptake of colostrum by 548 calves in western Kenya maintained
under smallholder farming, an important agricultural system in eastern Africa. Serum samples
collected from the calves and dams at recruitment (within the first week of life) were
analysed for the presence of antibodies to four tick-borne haemoparasites: Anaplasma
marginale, Babesia bigemina, Theileria mutans and Theileria parva. The analysis showed
that at least 89.33% of dams were seropositive for at least one of the parasites, and that
93.08% of calves for which unequivocal results were available showed evidence of having
received colostrum. The maternal antibody was detected up until 21 weeks of age in the
calves. Surprisingly, there was no discernible difference in mortality or growth rate between
calves that had taken colostrum and those that had not. The results are also important for
interpretation of serosurveys of young calves following natural infection or vaccination.